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MEMORIAL. 



1887 

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E M B I A L. 



To the Legislature of Massachusetts. 



GENTLEMEN, 

I respectfully ask to present this Memorial, believing 
that the cause, which actuates to and sanctions so unusual a 
movement, presents no equivocal claim to public consideration 
and sympathy. Surrendering to calm and deep convictions of 
duty my habitual views of what is womanly and becoming, I 
proceed briefly to explain what has conducted me before you 
unsolicited and unsustained, trusting, while I do so, that the 
memorialist will be speedily forgotten in the memorial. 

About two years since leisure afforded opportunity, and duty 
prompted me to visit several prisons and alms-houses in the vi- 
cinity of this metropolis. I found, near Boston, in the Jails and 
Asylums for the poor, a numerous class brought into unsuitable 
connexion with criminals and the general mass of Paupers. I 
refer to Idiots and Insane persons, dwelling in circumstances 
not only adverse to their own physical and moral improvement, 
but productive of extreme disadvantages to all other persons 
brought into association with them. I applied myself diligently 
to trace the causes of these evils, and sought to supply remedies. 
As one obstacle was surmounted, fresh difficulties appeared. 
Every new investigation has given depth to the conviction that 
it is only by decided, prompt, and vigorous legislation the evils 
to which I refer, and which I shall proceed more fully to illus- 
trate, can be remedied. I shall be obliged to speak with great 
plainness, and to reveal many things revolting to the taste, and 
from which my woman's nature shrinks with peculiar sensitive- 
ness. But truth is the highest consideration. / tell what I 
have seen — painful and shocking as the details often are — that 
from them you may feel more deeply the imperative obligation 
which lies upon you to prevent the possibility of a repetition or 
continuance of such outrages upon humanity. If I inflict 
pain upon you, and move you to horror, it is to acquaint you 



with sufferings which you have the power to alleviate, and 
make you hasten to the relief of the victims of legalized bar- 
barity. 

I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. 
I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the 
condition of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast. I come 
as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane and idiolic men 
and women ; of beings, sunk to a condition from which the 
most, unconcerned would start with real horror ; of beings 
wretched in our Prisons, and more wretched in our Aims- 
Houses. And I cannot suppose it needful to employ earnest 
persuasion, or stubborn argument, in order to arrest and fix at- 
tention upon a subject, only the more strongly pressing in its 
claims, because it is revolting and disgusting in its details. 

I must confine myself to few examples, but am ready 
to furnish other and more complete details, if required. If my 
pictures are displeasing, coarse, and severe, my subjects, it must 
be recollected, offer no tranquil, refined, or composing features. 
The condition of human beings, reduced to the extremest 
states of degradation and misery, cannot be exhibited in soften- 
ed language, or adorn a polished page. 

I proceed, Gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the 
present state of Insane Persons confined within this Common- 
wealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens ! Chained, 
naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience ! 

As I state cold, severe facts, 1 feel obliged to refer to persons, 
and definitely to indicate localities. But it is upon my subject, 
not upon localities or individuals, I desire to fix attention ; and 
1 would speak as kindly as possible of all Wardens, Keepers, and 
other responsible officers, believing that most of these have erred 
not through hardness of heart and wilful cruelty, so much as 
want of skill and knowledge, and want of consideration. Fa- 
miliarity with suffering, it is said, blunts the sensibilities, and 
where neglect once finds a footing other injuries are multiplied. 
This is not all, for it may justly and strongly be added that, 
from the deficiency of adequate means to meet the wants of 
these cases, it has been an absolute impossibility to do justice in 
this matter. Prisons are not constructed in view of being con- 
verted into County Hospitals, and Aims-Houses are not founded 
as receptacles for the Insane. And yet, in the face of justice 
and common sense, Wardens are by law compelled to receive, 
and the Masters of Aims-Houses not to refuse, Insane and 
Idiotic subjects in all stages of mental disease and privation. 

It is the Commonwealth, not its integral parts, that is ac- 
countable for most of the abuses which have lately, and do still 



exist. I repeat it, it is defective legislation which perpetuates 
and multiplies these abuses. 

[n illustration of my subject, I offer the following extracts 
from my Note-Book and Journal : — 

Springfield. In the jail, one lunatic woman, furiously mad, 
a state pauper, improperly situated, both in regard to the pris- 
oners, the keepers, and herself. It is a case of extreme self- 
forgetfulness and oblivion to all the decencies of life ; to de- 
scribe w T hich, would be to repeat only the grossest scenes. She 
is much worse since leaving Worcester. In the almshouse of 
the same town is a woman apparently only needing judicious 
care, and some well-chosen employment, to make it unnecessary 
to confine her in solitude, in a dreary unfurnished room. Her 
appeals for employment and companionship are most touching, 
but the mistress replied, • she had no time to attend to her.' 

Northampton. In the jail, quite lately, was a young man 
violently mad, who had not, as 1 was informed at the prison, 
come under medical care, and not been returned from any hos- 
pital. In the almshouse, the cases of insanity are now un- 
marked by abuse, and afford evidence of judicious care by the 
keepers. 

Williamsburg. The almshouse has several insane, not 
under suitable treatment. No apparent intentional abuse. 

Rutland. Appearance and report of the insane in the alms- 
house not satisfactory. 

Sterling. A terrible case ; manageable in a hospital ; at 
present as well controlled perhaps as circumstances in a case so 
extreme allow. An almshouse, but wholly wrong in relation 
to the poor crazy woman, to the paupers generally, and to her 
keepers. 

Burlington. A woman, declared to be very insane ; decent 
room and bed ; but not allowed to rise oftener, the mistress said, 
{ than every other day : it is too much trouble.' 

Concord. A woman from the hospital in a cage in the 
almshouse. In the jail several, decently cared for in general, 
but not properly placed in a prison. Violent, noisy, unman- 
ageable most of the time. 

Lincoln. A woman in a cage. 

Medford. One idiotic subject chained, and one in a close 
stall for 17 years. 

Pepperell. One often doubly chained, hand and foot ; a- 
nother violent ; several peaceable now. 

Brookfield. One man caged, comfortable. 

Granville. One often closely confined ; now losing the use 
of his limbs from want of exercise. 



6 

Charlemont. One man caged. 

Savoy. One man caged. 

Lenox. Two in the jail ; against whose unfit condition 
there, the jailor protests. 

Dedham. The insane disadvantageous^ placed in the jail. 
In the almshouse, two females in stalls, situated in the main 
building ; lie in wooden bunks filled with straw ; always shut 
up. One of these subjects is supposed curable. The overseers 
of the poor have declined giving her a trial at the hospital, as I 
was informed, on account of expense. 

Franklin. One man chained ; decent. 

Taunton. One woman caged. 

Plymouth. One man stall-caged, from Worcester hospital. 

Scituate. One man and one woman stall-caged. 

Bridgewater. Three idiots ; never removed from one room. 

Barnstable. Four females in pens and stalls ; two chained 
certainly, I think all. Jail, one idiot. 

Welfleet. Three insane ; one man and one woman chained, 
the latter in a bad condition. 

Brewster. One woman violently mad, solitary : could not 
see her, the master and mistress being absent, and the paupers 
in charge having strict orders to admit no one. 

Rochester. Seven insane ; at present none caged. 

Milford. Two insane, not now caged. 

Cohasset. One idiot, one insane ; most miserable condition. 

Plympton. One insane, three idiots ; condition wretched. 

Besides the above, I have seen many who, part of the year, 
are chained or caged. The use of cages all but universal ; 
hardly a town but can refer to some not distant period of using 
them: chains are less common: negligences frequent: wilful 
abuse less frequent than sufferings proceeding from ignorance, 
or want of consideration. I encountered during the last three 
months many poor creatures wandering reckless and unprotec- 
ted through the country. Innumerable accounts have been 
sent me of persons who had roved away unwatched and un- 
searched after ; and I have heard that responsible persons, con- 
trolling the almshouses, have not thought themselves culpable 
in sending away from their shelter, to cast upon the chances of 
remote relief, insane men and women. These, left on the high- 
ways, unfriended and incompetent to control or direct their own 
movements, sometimes have found refuge in the hospital, and 
others have not been traced. But I cannot particularize ; in 
traversing the state I have found hundreds of insane persons 
in every variety of circumstanee and condition ; many whose 
situation could not and need not be improved ; a less number, 
but that very large, whose lives are the saddest pictures of hu- 



man suffering and degradation. I give a few illustrations ; 
but description fades before reality. 

Danvers. November ; visited the almshouse ; a large buil- 
ding, much out of repair ; understand a new one is in contem- 
plation. Here are rom fifty-six to sixty inmates ; one idiotic ; 
three insane ; one of the latter in close confinement at all times. 

Long before reaching the house, wild shouts, snatches of 
rude songs, imprecations, and obscene language, fell upon the 
ear, proceeding from the occupant of a low building, rather 
remote from the principal building to which my course was 
directed. Found the mistress, and was conducted to the 
place, which was called ' the home ' of the forlorn maniac, 
a young woman, exhibiting a condition of neglect and misery 
blotting out the faintest idea of comfort, and outraging every 
sentiment of decency. She had been, I learnt, " a respectable 
person ; industrious and worthy ; disappointments and trials 
shook her mind, and finally laid prostrate reason and self- 
control ; she became a maniac for life ! She had been at 
Worcester Hospital for a considerable time, and had been re- 
turned as incurable." The mistress told me she understood 
that, while there, she was " comfortable and decent." Alas ! 
what a change was here exhibited ! She had passed from one 
degree of violence and degradation to another, in swift progress ; 
there she stood, clinging to, or beating upon, the bars of her 
caged apartment, the contracted size of which afforded space 
only for increasing accumulations of filth, o,foul spectacle ; there 
she stood with naked arms and dishevelled hair ; the unwashed 
frame invested with fragments of unclean garments, the air so 
extremely offensive, though ventilation was afforded on all sides 
save one, that it was not possible to remain beyond a few 
moments without retreating for recovery to the outward air. 
Irritation of body, produced by utter filth and exposure, inci- 
ted her to the horrid process of tearing off her skin by inches ; 
her face, neck, and person, were thus disfigured to hide- 
ousness ; she held up a fragment just rent off ; to my ex- 
clamation of horror, the mistress replied, " oh, we can't help 
it ; half the skin is off sometimes ; we can do nothing with 
her ; and it makes no difference what she eats, for she consumes 
her own filth as readily as the food which is brought her." 

It is now January ; a fortnight since, two visitors reported that 
most wretched outcast as " wallowing in dirty straw, in a place 
yet more dirty, and without clothing, without fire. Worse 
cared for than the brutes, and wholly lost to consciousness of 
decency !" Is the whole story told ? What was seen, is ; what 

is reported is not. These gross exposures are not for the pained 

sight of one alone ; all, all, coarse, brutal men, wondering, 



8 

neglected children, old and young, each and all, witness this 
lowest, foulest state of miserable humanity. And who protects 
her, that worse than Paria outcast, from other wrongs and 
blacker outrages ? I do not know that such have been. I do 
know that they are to be dreaded, and that they are not guard- 
ed against. 

Some may say these things cannot be remedied ; these 
furious maniacs are not to be raised from these base conditions. 
I know they are ; could give many examples ; let one suffice. 
A young woman, a pauper, in a distant town, Sandisfield, 
was for years a raging maniac. A cage, chains, and the 
whip, were the agents for controlling her, united with harsh 
tones and profane language. Annually, with others (the town's 
poor) she was put up at auction, and bid off at the lowest price 
which was declared for her. One year, not long past, an old 
man came forward in the number of applicants for the poor 
wretch ; he was taunted and ridiculed ; "what would he and., 
his old wife do w T ith such a mere beast ? " " My wife says 
yes," replied he, " and I shall take her." She was given to 
his charge ; he conveyed her home ; she was washed, neatly 
dressed, and placed in a decent bed-room, furnished for comfort 
and opening into the kitchen. How altered her condition ! As 
yet the chains were not off. The first week she was somewhat 
restless, at times violent, but the quiet kind ways of the old 
people wrought a change ; she received her food decently ; for- 
sook acts of violence, and no longer uttered blasphemous or 
indecent language ; after a week, the chain was lengthened, 
and she was received as a companion into the kitchen. Soon 
she engaged in trivial employments. " After a fortnight," said 
the old man, " I knocked off the chains and made her a free 
woman." She is at times excited, but not violently ; they are 
careful of her diet ; they keep her very clean ; she calls them ■ 
" father " and " mother." Go there now and you will find her 
" clothed," and though not perfectly in her " right mind," so 
far restored as to be a safe and comfortable inmate. 

Newburyport. Visited the almshouse in June last ; eighty 
inmates ; seven insane, one idiotic. Commodious and neat 
house ; several of the partially insane apparently very com- , 
fortable ; two very improperly situated, namely, an insane man,- 
not considered incurable, in an put-building, whose room open- 
ed upon what was called ' the dead room,' affording in lieu of 
companionship with the living, a contemplation of corpses ! 
The other subject was a woman in a cellar. I desired to see 
her ; much reluctance w T as shown. I pressed the request ; the 
Master of the House stated that she was in the cellar ; that she 
was dangerous to be approached ; that c she had lately attack- 



9 

cd his wife ; ' and was often naked. I persisted ; c if you will 
not go with me, give me the keys and I will go alone.' Thus 
importuned, the outer doors were opened. I descended the 
stairs from within ; a strange, unnatural noise seemed to proceed 
from beneath our feet ; at the moment I did not much regard it. 
My conductor proceeded to remove a padlock, while my eye ex- 
plored the wide space in quest of the poor woman. All for a 
moment was still. But judge my horror and amazement, when 
a door to a closet beneath the staircase was opened, revealing 
in the imperfect light a female apparently wasted to a skeleton, 
partially wrapped in blankets, furnished for the narrow bed 
on which she was sitting ; her countenance furrowed, not by 
age, but suffering, was the image of distress ; in that contracted 
space, unlighted, unventilated, she poured forth the wailings of 
despair : mournfully she extended her arms and appealed to me, 
" why am I consigned to hell ? dark — dark— I used to pray, I 
used to read the Bible — I have done no crime in my heart ; I 
had friends, why have all forsaken me ! — my God ! my Godl 
why hast thou forsaken me !" Those groans, those wailings 
come up daily, mingling, with how many others, a perpetual 
and sad memorial. When the good Lord shall require an ac- 
count of our stewardship, what shall all and each answer ! 

Perhaps it will be inquired how long, how many days or 
hours was she imprisoned in these confined limits? For years ! 
In another part of the cellar were other small closets, only bet- 
ter, because higher through the entire length, into one of which 
she by turns was transferred, so as to afford opportunity for fresh 
whitewashing, (fee. 

Saugus. December 24 ; thermometer below zero ; drove 
to the poorhouse ; was conducted to the master's family-room 
by himself; walls garnished with handcuffs and chains, not 
less than five pair of the former ; did not inquire how or on 
whom applied ; thirteen pauper inmates ; one insane man ; one 
woman insane ; one idiotic man ; asked to see them ; the two 
men were shortly led in ; appeared pretty decent and comfort- 
able. Requested to see the other insane subject ; was denied 
decidedly : urged the request, and finally secured a reluctant 
assent. Was led through an outer passage into a lower room, 
occupied by the paupers ; crowded ; not neat ; ascended a 
rather low flight of stairs upon an open entry, through the floor 
of which was introduced a stove pipe, carried along afeivfeet, 
about six inches above the floor, through which it was re- 
conveyed below. From this entry opens a room of moderate 
size, having a sashed-window ; floor, 1 think, painted ; apart- 
ment entirely unfurnished ; no chair, table, nor bed ; neither, 
what is seldom missing, a bundle of straw or lock of hay ; cold. 



10 

very cold ; the first movement of my conductor was to throw 
open a window, a measure imperatively necessary for those 
who entered. On the floor sat a woman, her limbs immov- 
ably contracted, so that the knees were brought upward to the 
chin ; the face was concealed ; the head rested on the folded 
arms ; for clothing she appeared to have been furnished with 
fragments of many discharged garments ; these were folded 
about her, yet they little benefitted her, if one might judge by 
the constant shuddering which almost convulsed her poor crip- 
pled frame. Woful was this scene ; language is feeble to 
record the misery she was suffering and had suffered ! In 
reply to my inquiry if she could not change her position, I was 
answered by the master in the negative, and told that the con- 
traction of limbs was occasioned by " neglect and exposure in 
former years," but since she hod been crazy, and before she 
fell under the charge, as T inferred, of her present guardians. 
Poor wretch ! she, like many others, was an example of what 
humanity becomes when the temple of reason falls in ruins, 
leaving the mortal part to injury and neglect, and showing how 
much can be endured of privation, exposure, and disease, with- 
out extinguishing the lamp of life. 

Passing out, the man pointed to a something, revealed to 
more than one sense, which he called " her bed ; and we throw 
some blankets over her at night." Possibly this is done; 
others, like myself, might be pardoned a doubt, if they could 
have seen all 1 saw, and heard abroad all I heard. The bed, 
so called, was about three feet long, and from a half to three- 
quarters of a yard wide ; of old ticking or tow cloth was the 
case; the contents might have been a, full handful of hay or 
straw. My attendant's exclamations on my leaving the house 
were emphatic, and can hardly be repeated. 

The above case recalls another of equal neglect or abuse. 
Asking my way to the almshouse in Berkeley, wmich had been 
repeatedly spoken of as greatly neglected, I was answered as to 
the direction, and informed that there were "plenty of insane 
people and idiots there." "Well taken care of?" "Oh, well 
enough for such sort of creatures ? " " Any violently insane ? " 
" Yes ; my sister's son is there, a real tiger. I kept him here 
at my house awhile, but it was too much trouble to go on ; so I 
carried him there." " Is he comfortably provided for ? " " Well 
enough." " Has he decent clothes ? " " Good enough ; wouldn't 
wear them if he had more." " Food? " " Good enough; good 
enough for him " " One more question, has he the comfort 
of a fire? " " Fire ! fire, indeed ! what does a crazy man need 
of fire? red-hot iron w T ants fire as much as he !" And such 
are sincerely the ideas of not a few persons in regard to the 



11 

actual wants of the insane. Less regarded than the lowest 
brutes ! no wonder they sink even lower. 

Ipswich. Have visited the prison three several times ; 
visited the almshouse once. In the latter are several cases 
of insanity ; three especially distressing, situated in a miserable 
out-building, detached from the family-house, and confined in 
stalls or pens ; three individuals, one of which is apparently very 
insensible to the deplorable circumstances which surround him, 
and perhaps not likely to comprehend privations or benefits. 
Not so the person directly opposite to him, who looks up wildly, 
anxiously by turns, through those strong bars. Cheerless sight! 
strange companionship for the mind flitting- and coming by turns 
to some perception of persons and things. He too is one of the 
returned incurables. His history is a sad one ; I have not had all 
the particulars, but it shows distinctly, what the most prosper- 
ous and affluent may come to be. I understand his connexions 
are excellent and respectable; his natural abilities in youth were 
superior ; he removed from Essex county to Albany, and was es- 
tablished there as the editor of a popular newspaper, in course 
of time he was chosen a senator for that section of the state, and 
of course was a Judge in the Court of Errors. 

Vicissitudes followed, and insanity closed the scene. He was 
conveyed to Worcester; after a considerable period, either to 
give place to some new patient, or because the County objected 
to the continued expense, he being declared incurable, was re- 
moved to Salem jail ; thence to Ipswich jail ; associated with 
the prisoners there, partaking the same food, and clad in like 
apparel. After a time the town complained of the expense of 
keeping him in jail ; it was cheaper in the almshouse ; to the 
almshouse he was conveyed, and there perhaps must abide. 
How sad a fate ! I found him in a quiet state ; though at times 
was told that he is greatly excited ; what wonder, w 7 ith such a 
companion before him ; such cruel scenes within ! I perceived 
in him some little confusion as I paused before the stall, against 
the bars of which he was leaning ; he was not so lost to propri- 
ety but that a little disorder of the bed-clothes, &c. embarrassed 
him. 1 passed on, but he asked, in a moment, earnestly, " Is the 
lady gone — gone quite away ?" I returned ; he gazed a mo- 
ment without answering my inquiry if he wished to see me ? 
"And have you too lost all your dear friends?*' Perhaps my 
mourning apparel excited his inquiry. ' Not all.' " Have you 
any dear father and mother to love you V and then he sighed and 
then laughed and traversed the limited stall. Immediately ad- 
jacent to this stall was one occupied by a simple girl, who was 
" put there to be out of harm's way." A cruel lot ! for this pri- 
vation of a sound mind. A madman on the one hand, not so 



12 

much separated as to secure decency, another almost opposite^ 
and no screen ! I do not know how it is argued, that mad persons 
and idiots may be dealt with as if no spark of recollection ever 
lights up the mind ; the observation and experience of those 7 
who have had charge of Hospitals, show opposite conclusions. 

Violence and severity do but exasperate the Insane : the only 
availing influence is kindness and firmness. It is amazing what 
these will produce. How many examples might illustrate this 
position : I refer to one recently exhibited in Barre. The town 
Paupers are disposed of annually to some family who, for a 
stipulated sum agree to take charge of them. One of them, a 
young woman, was shown to me well clothed, neat, quiet, and 
employed at needle-work. Is it possible that this is the same be- 
ing who, but last year, was a raving madwoman, exhibiting 
every degree of violence in action and speech ; a very tigress 
wrought to fury ; caged, chained, beaten, loaded with injuries, 
and exhibiting the passions which an iron rule might be expec- 
ted to stimulate and sustain. It is the same person ; another 
family hold her in charge who better understand human nature 
and human influences ; she is no longer chained, caged, and 
beaten ; but if excited, a pair of mittens drawn over the hands 
secures from mischief. Where will she be next year, after the 
annual sale ? 

It is not the insane subject alone who illustrates the power 
of the all prevailing law of kindness. A poor idiotic 

young man, a year or two since, used to follow me at times 
through the prison as I was distributing books and papers : at 
first he appeared totally stupid, but cheerful expressions, a smile, 
a trifling gift, seemed gradually to light up the void temple of 
the intellect, and by slow degrees some faint images of thought 
passed before the mental vision. He would ask for books, though 
he could not read. 1 indulged his fancy and he would appear 
to experience delight in examining them ; and kept them with 
a singular care. If I read the Bible, he was reverently, won- 
deringly attentive ; if I talked, he listened with a half-conscious 
aspect. One morning I passed more hurriedly than usual, and 
did not speak particularly to him. " Me, me, me a book." I 
returned ; " good morning, Jemmy ; so you will have a book to- 
day? well, keep it carefully." Suddenly turning aside he took 
the bread brought for his breakfast, and passing it with a hur- 
ried earnestness through the bars of his iron door — " Here's 
bread, a'nt you hungry ? " Never may I forget the tone and 
grateful affectionate aspect of that poor idiot. How much might 
we do to bring back or restore the mind, if we but knew how 
to touch the instrument with a skilful hand ! 

My first visit to Ipswich prison was in March, 1842. The 



13 

day was cold and stormy. The Turnkey very obligingly 
conducted me through the various departments. Pausing 
before the iron door of a room in the jail, he said, " we have 
here a crazy man, whose case seems hard, for he has sense 
enough to know he is in a prison, and associated with prisoners. 
He was a physician in this county, and was educated at Cam- 
bridge, I believe ; it was there, or at one of the New-England 
colleges. Should you like to see him ? " 1 objected that it 
might be unwelcome to the sufferer ; but urged, went in. The 
apartment was very much out of order, neglected, and unclean ; 
there was no fire ; it had been forgotten amidst the press of 
other duties. A man, a prisoner waiting trial, was sitting near 
a bed where the Insane man lay, rolled in dirty blankets. The 
Turnkey told him my name, and he broke forth into a most 
touching appeal, that I would procure his liberation by prompt 
application to the highest State authorities. I soon retired, but 
communicated his condition to an official person before leaving 
the town, in the hope he might be rendered more comfortable. 
Shortly 1 received from this Insane person, through my esteem- 
ed friend, Dr. Bell, several letters, from which I venture to 
make a few extracts. They are written from Ipswich where is 
the general County receptacle for insane persons. I may re- 
mark that he has at different times been under skilful treat- 
ment, both at Charlestown and Worcester ; but being, long 
since, pronounced incurable, and his property being expended, 
he became chargeable to the town or county, and was removed, 
first to Salem jail, thence to that at Ipswich by the desire of the 
High Sheriff, who requested the Commissioners to remove him 
to Ipswich as a more retired spot, where he would be less likely 
to cause disturbance." In his paroxysms of violence, his shouts 
and turbulence disturb a whole neighborhood. These still 
occur. I give the extracts literally : — " Respected lady : since 
your heavenly visit my time has passed in perfect quietude, and 
for the last week I have been entirely alone ; the room has been 
cleansed and whitewashed, and is now quite decent. 1 have 
read your books and papers with pleasure and profit, and retain 
them subject to your order. You say, in your note, others shall 
be sent if desired, and if any particular subject has interest it 
shall be procured. Your kindness is felt and highly appreciat- 
ed," &c. In another letter he writes, " You express confidence 
that I have self-control, and self-respect. I have, and, were I 
free and in good circumstances, could command as much as 
any man." In a third he says, " Your kind note, with more 
books and papers was received on the 8th, and I immediately 
addressed to you a letter superscribed to Dr. Bell ; but having 
discovered the letters on your seal, I suppose them the initials of 
your name, and now address you directly," &c. &c 



14 

The original letters may be seen. I have produced these 
extracts, and stated facts of personal history, in Oider that a 
judgment may be formed from few of many examples, as to 
the justness of incarcerating lunatics in all and every stage of 
insanity, for an indefinite period, or for life, in dreary prisons, 
and in connection with every class of criminals who may be 
lodged successively under the same roof, and in the same 
apartments. I have shown, from two examples, to what con- 
dition men may be brought, not through crime, but misfortune, 
and that misfortune embracing the heaviest calamity to w T hich 
human nature is exposed. In the touching language of script- 
ure may these captives cry out — " Have pity upon me ! have 
pity upon me ! for the hand of the Lord hath smitten me." 
"My kinsfolk have failed, and my own familiar friend hath 
forgotten me." 

The last visit to the Ipswich prison was the third week in 
December. Twenty-two Insane persons and Idiots : general 
condition gradually improved within the last year. All suffer 
for want of air and exercise. The Turnkey, while disposed to 
discharge kindly the duties of his office, is so crowded with 
business, as to be positively unable to give any but the most 
general attention to the Insane department. Some of the 
subjects are invariably confined in small dreary cells, insuffi- 
ciently warmed and ventilated. Here one sees them traversing 
the narrow dens with ceaseless rapidity, or dashing from side to 
side like caged tigers, perfectly furious, through the invariable 
condition of unalleviated confinement. The case of one simple 
boy is peculiarly hard. December 6, 1841, he was committed 
to the house of correction, East Cambridge, from Charlestown, 
as an Insane or Idiotic boy. He was unoffending, and com- 
petent to perform a variety of light labors under direction, and 
was often allowed a good deal of freedom in the open air. 
September 6, 1842, he was directed to pull some weeds, (which 
indulgence his harmless disposition permitted) without the prison 
walls, merely, I believe, for the sake of giving him a little em- 
ployment. He escaped, it was thought, rather through sudden 
waywardness than any distinct purpose. From that time 
nothing was heard of him till in the latter part of December, 
while at Ipswich, in the common room, occupied by a portion 
of the lunatics not furiously mad, 1 beard some one say, " 1 
know her, I know her," and with a joyous laugh John hastened 
towards me. " I'm so glad to see you ! so glad to see you ! I 
can't stay here long ; 1 want to go out," &c. It seems he had 
wandered to Salem, and was committed as an Insane or Idiot 
boy. I cannot but assert that most of the Idiotic subjects in 
the prisons in Massachusetts are unjustly committed, being 



1 



K 



wholly incapaple of doing harm, and none manifesting any 
disposition either to injure others or to exercise mischievous 
propensities. I ask an investigation into this subject for the 
sake of many whose association with prisoners and criminals, 
and also with persons in almost every stage of insanity, is as 
useless and unnecessary, as it is cruel and ill-judged. If it 
were proper, I might place in your hands a volume, rather than 
give a page, illustrating these premises. 

Sudbury. First week in September last I directed my way 
to the poor-farm there. Approaching, as I supposed, that place, 
all uncertainty vanished, as to which, of several dwellings in 
view, the course should be directed. The terrible screams and 
imprecations, impure language and amazing blasphemies, of a 
maniac, now, as often heretofore, indicated the place sought 
after. I know not how to proceed ! the English language 
affords no combinations fit for describing the condition of the 
happy wretch there confined. In a stall, built under a woodshed 
on the road, was a naked man, defiled with filth, furiously 
tossing through the bars and about the cage, portions of straw 
(the only furnishing of his prison) already trampled to chaff. 
The mass of filth within, diffused wide abroad the most noisome 
stench. I have never witnessed paroxysms of madness so 
appalling ; it seemed as if the ancient doctrine of the possession 
of demons was here illustrated. I hastened to the house over- 
whelmed with horror. The mistress informed me that ten 
days since he had been brought from Worcester Hospital, w r here 
the town did not choose any longer to meet the expenses of 
maintaining him ; that he had been " dreadful noisy and 
dangerous to go near," ever since ; it was hard work to give 
him food at any rate, for what was not immediately dashed at 
those who carried it, was cast down upon the festering mass 
within. " He's a dreadful care ; w^orse than all the people and 
work on the farm beside." Have you any other insane persons ? 
" Yes ; this man's sister has been crazy here for several years ; 
she does nothing but take on about him ; and may-be she'll 
grow as bad as he." I went into the adjoining room to see 
this unhappy creature ; in a low chair, wearing an air of deepest 
despondence, sat a female no longer young ; her hair fell un- 
combed upon her shoulders; her whole air revealed woe, un- 
mitigated woe ! She regarded me coldly and uneasily ; I spoke 
a few words of sympathy and kindness ; she fixed her gaze 
for a few moments steadily upon me, then grasping my hand, 
and bursting into a passionate flood of tears, repeatedly kissed 
it, exclaiming in a voice broken by sobs, " O, my poor brother, 
my poor brother ; hark, hear him ! hear him ! " then relapsing 
into apathetic calmness, she neither spoke nor moved, but the 



f 



16 

tears again flowed fast, as I went away. I avoided passing the 
maniac's cage ; but there, with strange curiosity and eager ex- 
clamations, were gathered, at a safe distance, the children of 
the establishment, little boys and girls, receiving their early 
lessons in hardness of heart and vice ; but the demoralizing 
influences were not confined to children. 

The same day revealed two scenes of extreme exposure and 
unjustifiable neglect, such as I could not have supposed the 
whole New-England States could furnish. 

Wat/land. Visited the almshouse. There, as in Sudbury, 
caged in a wood-shed, and also fully exposed upon the public 
road, was seen a man at that time less violent, but equally de- 
based by exposure and irritation. He then wore a portion of 
clothing, though the mistress remarked that he was " more likely 
to be naked than not ;" and added that he was " less noisy than 
usual." I spoke to him, but received no answer ; a wild, 
strange gaze, and impatient movement of the hand, motioned 
us away ; he refused to speak, rejected food, and wrapped over 
his head a torn coverlet; want of accommodations for the im- 
perative calls of nature had converted the cage into a place of 
utter offence. " My husband cleans him out once a week or 
so ; but. it's a hard matter to master him sometimes. He does 
better since the last time he was broken in." I learnt that the 
confinement and cold together, had so affected his limbs that he 
was often powerless to rise ; " you see him," said my conduct- 
ress, " in his best state." His best state ! what then was the 
worst ? 

Westford. Not many miles distant from Wayland is a sad 
spectacle ; was told by the family who kept the poorhouse, that 
they had twenty-six paupers ; one idiot ; one simple ; and one 
insane, an incurable case from Worcester hospital. I requested 
to see her. but was answered that she " wasn't fit to be seen ; 
she was naked, and made so much trouble they did not know 
how to get along." 1 hesitated but a moment ; I must see her, 
I said. I cannot adopt descriptions of the condition of the in- 
sane secondarily ; what I assert for fact, T must see for myself. 
On this I was conducted above stairs into an apartment of 
decent size, pleasant aspect from abroad, and tolerably comfort- 
able in its general appearance ; but the inmates ! — grant I may 
never look upon another such scene ! A young woman, whose 
person was partially covered with portions of a blanket, sat 
upon the floor ; her hair dishevelled ; her naked arms crossed 
languidly over the breast ; a distracted, unsteady eye, and low, 
murmuring voice, betraying both mental and physical disquiet. 
About the waist was a chain, the extremity of which w r as 
fastened into the wall of the house. As I entered she raised 



17 

her eyes, blushed, moved uneasily, endeavoring at the same 
time to draw about her the insufficient fragments of the blanket. 
I knelt beside her and asked if she did not wish to be dressed ? 
" Yes ; I want some clothes." " But you'll tear 'em all up, you 
know you will," interposed her attendant. " No, I won't, I 
won't tear them off; " and she tried to rise, but the waist- 
encircling chain threw her back, and she did not renew the 
effort, but bursting into a wild shrill laugh, pointed to it, ex- 
claiming, "see there, see there, nice clothes ! " Hot tears might 
not dissolve that iron bondage, imposed, to all appearance, most 
needlessly. As I left the room the poor creature said, " I want 
my gown ! " The response from the attendant might have 
roused to indignation one not dispossesed of reason, and own- 
ing self-control. 

Groton. A few rods removed from the poorhouse is a wood- 
en building upon the road-side, constructed of heavy board and 
plank; it contains one room, unfurnished, except so far as a 
bundle of straw constitutes furnishing. There is no window, 
save an opening half the size of a sash, and closed by a board 
shutter ; in one corner is some brick-work surrounding an iron 
stove, which in cold weather serves for warming the room. The 
occupant of this dreary abode is a young man, who has been 
declared incurably insane. He can move a measured distance 
in his prison ; that is, so far as a strong, heavy chain, depend- 
ing from an iron collar which invests his neck, permits. In 
fine weather, and it was pleasant when I was there in June 
last, the door is thrown open, at once giving admission to light 
and air, and affording some little variety to the solitary in 
watching the passers-by. But that portion of the year which 
allows of open doors is not the chiefest part ; and it may be 
conceived, without drafting much on the imagination, what is 
the condition of one who, for days, and weeks, and months, sits 
in darkness and alone, without employment, without object. It 
may be supposed that paroxysms of frenzy are often exhibited, 
and that the tranquil state is rare in comparison with that 
which incites to violence. This I was told is the fact. 

I may here remark that severe measures, in enforcing rule, 
have in many places been openly revealed. I have not seen 
chastisement administered by stripes, and in but few instances 
have I seen the rods and whips, but I have seen blows inflict- 
ed, both passionately and repeatedly. 

I have been asked if I have investigated the causes of in- 
sanity ? I have not ; but 1 have been told that this most 
calamitous overthrow of reason, often is the result of a life of sin ; 
it is sometimes, but rarely, added, they must take the conse- 
quences ; they deserve no better care ! Shall man be more just 



f 



18 

than God ; he who causes his sun, and refreshing rains, and 
life-giving influence, to fall alike on the good and the evil? Is 
not the total wreck of reason, a state of distraction, and the loss 
of all that makes life cherished a retribution, sufficiently heavy, 
without adding to consequences so appalling, every indignity 
that can bring still lower the wretched sufferer ? Have pity 
upon those who, while they were supposed to lie hid in secret 
sins, " have been scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness ; 
over whom is spread a heavy night, and who unto themselves 
are more grievous than the darkness." 

Fitchburg. In November visited the almshouse : inquired 
the number of insane? was answered, several ; but two in close 
confinement ; one idiotic subject. Saw an insane woman in a 
dreary neglected apartment, unemployed and alone. Idleness 
and solitude weaken, it is said, the sane mind, much more 
must it hasten the downfall of that which is already trembling 
at the foundations. From this apartment I was conducted to 
an out-building, a portion of which was inclosed, so as to unite 
shelter, confinement, and solitude. The first space was a sort 
ofentry,in which was a window; beyond, a close partition with 
doors indicated where was the insane man I had wished to see. 
He had been returned from the hospital as incurable ; I asked 
if he was violent or dangerous ? ' No.' Is he clothed ? ' Yes.' 
Why keep him shut in this close confinement ? ' O my hus- 
band is afraid he'll run away, then the overseers won't like it ; 
he'll get to Worcester, and then the town will have money to 
pay." He must come out, I wish to see him. The opened door 
disclosed a squalid place, dark, and furnished with straw. The 
crazy man raised himself slowly from the floor upon which he 
w T as couched, and with unsteady steps came towards me. His 
look was feeble and sad, but calm and gentle. 

" Give me those books, oh give me those books !" and with 
trembling eagerness he reached for some books I had carried in 
my hand : " do give them to me, I want them," said he with 
kindling earnestness. You could not use them, friend ; you 
cannot see there ; " O give them to me, do ;" and he raised his 
hand and bent a little forward, lowering his voice ; " Til pick 
a little hole in the plank and let in some of God's light." 

The master came round. " Why cannot you take this man 
abroad to work on the farm, he is harmless ; air and exercise 
will help to recover him." The answer was in substance the 
same as that first given ; but he added, " I've been talking 
with our overseers, and I've proposed getting from the black- 
smith an iron collar and chain, then I can have him out by the 
house." An iron collar and chain ! " Yes, I had a cousin up in 
Vermont, crazy as a wild-cat, and I got a collar made for him, 



1 



19 

and he liked it? Liked it ! how did he manifest his pleasure f 
"Why he left off trying to run away. I kept the alms-house 
at Groton : there was a man there from the Hospital : I built 
an out-house for him, and the blacksmith made him an iron 
collar and chain, so we had him fast, and the overseers ap- 
proved it, and — " I here interrupted him. I have seen that poor 
creature at Groton in his doubly iron bondage, and you must al- 
low me to say that as I understand you remain but one year in 
the same place, and you may find insane subjects in all, 1 am 
confident, if overseers permit such a multiplication of collars 
and chains, the public will not long sanction such barbarities.; 
but if you had at Groton any argument for this measure in the 
violent state of the unfortunate subject, how can you justify 
such treatment of a person quiet and not dangerous as is this 
poor man ? I beg you to forbear the chains, and treat him as 
you yourself would like to be treated in like fallen circumstances. 
Bolton. Late in December, 1842 ; thermometer 4° above 
zero ; visited the almshouse ; neat and comfortable establish- 
ment ; two insane women, one in the house associated with the 
family, the other " out of doors? The day following was 
expected a young man from Worcester Hospital, incurably in- 
sane ; fears were expressed of finding him " dreadful hard to 
manage." I asked to see the subject who was " out of doors ; " 
and following the mistress of the house through the deep snow, 
shuddering and benumbed by the piercing cold, several hun- 
dred yards, we came in rear of the barn to a small building, 
which might have afforded a degree of comfortable shelter, but 
it did not. About two thirds of the interior was filled with 
wood and peat ; the other third was divided into two parts, one 
about six feet square contained a cylinder stove, in which was 
no fire, the rusty pipe seeming to threaten, in its decay, either 
suffocation by smoke, which by and by we nearly realized, or 
conflagration of the building, together with destruction of its 
poor crazy inmate. My companion uttered an exclamation at 
finding no fire, and busied herself to light one, while I explored, 
as the deficient light permitted, the cage which occupied the 
undescribed portion of the building. "Oh, I'm so cold, so 
cold," was uttered in plaintive tones by a woman within the 
cage ; "oh, so cold, so cold ! " And well might she be cold ; 
the stout, hardy, driver of the sleigh had declared 'twas too hard 
for a man to stand the wind and snow that day, yet here was 
>a woman caged and imprisoned without fire or .clothes, not 
naked indeed, for one thin cotton garment partly covered her, 
and part of a blanket was gathered about the shoulders; there 
she stood, shivering in that dreary place, the grey locks falling 
in disorder about the face gave a wild expression to the pallid 



20 

features ; untended and comfortless, she might call aloud, none 
could hear ; she might die, and there be none to close the eye. 
But death would have been a blessing here. " Well, you shall 
have a fire, Axey ; I've been so busy getting ready for the 
funeral ! " One of the paupers lay dead. " Oh, I want some 
clothes, 1 ' rejoined the lunatic ; " I'm so cold." " Well, Axey, you 
shall have some as soon as the children come from school ; I've 
had so much to do." " I want to go out, do let me out ! " 
" Yes, as soon as I get time," answered the respondent. 
" Why do you keep her here?" I asked, "she appears harm- 
less and quiet." " Well, I mean to take her up to the house 
pretty soon ; the people that used to have care here, kept her 
shut up all the year ; but it is cold here, and we take her to the 
house in hard weather ; the only danger is her running away ; 
I've been meaning to, this good while." The poor creature 
listened eagerly, " oh, I won't run away, do take me out !" 
" Well, I will in a few days." Now the smoke from the 
kindling fire became so dense that a new anxiety struck the 
captive ; " oh, I shall smother, I'm afraid ; don't fill that up, 
I'm afraid." Pretty soon I moved to go away ; " stop, did you 
walk ? " " No." « Did you ride ? " *' Yes." « Do take me 
with you, do, I'm so cold. Do you know my sisters ? they 
live in this town ; I want to see them so much ; do let me go ! " 
and shivering with eagerness to get out, as with the biting cold, 
she rapidly tried the bars of the cage. 

The mistress seemed a kind person ; her tones and manner 
to the lunatic were kind ; but how difficult to unite all the cares 
of her household, and neglect none! Here was not wilful abuse, 
but great, very great, suffering through undesigned negligence. 
We need an Asylum for this class, the incurable, where con- 
flicting duties shall not admit of such examples of privations 
and misery. 

One is continually amazed at the tenacity of life in these 
persons. In conditions that wring the heart to behold, it is 
hard to comprehend that days rather than years should not 
conclude the measure of their griefs and miseries. Picture her 
condition ! place yourselves in that dreary cage, remote from 
the inhabited dwelling, alone by day and by night, without fire, 
without clothes, except when remembered ; without object or 
employment ; weeks and months passing on in drear succession, 
not a blank, but with keen life to suffering ; with kindred, but 
deserted by them ; and you shall not lose the memory of that 
time when they loved you, and you in turn loved them, but 
now no act or voice of kindness makes sunshine in the heart. 
Has fancy realized this to you ? It may be the state of some of 
those you cherish ! Who shall be sure his own hearth-stone 



21 

shall not be desolate ? nay, who shall say his own mountain 
stands strong, his lamp of reason shall not go out in darkness ! 
To how many has this become a heart-rending reality ! If for 
selfish ends only, should not effectual Legislation here inter- 
pose? 

JShelbume. November last ; I found no poorhouse, and but 
few paupers ; these were distributed in private families. I had 
heard, before visiting this place,of the bad condition of a lunatic 
pauper. The case seemed to be pretty well known throughout 
the county. Receiving a direction by which I might find him, 
I reached a house of most respectable appearance ; every thing 
without and w T ithin indicating abundance and prosperity. Con- 
cluding I must have mistaken my way, I prudently inquired 
where the insane person might be found ? was readily answer- 
ed, " here." I desired to see him ; and after some difficulties 
raised and set aside, I was conducted into the yard, where was 
a small building of rough boards imperfectly joined ; through 
these crevices was admitted what portion of heaven's light and air 
was allowed by man to his fellow-man. This shanty or shell, 
inclosing a cage, might have been eight or ten feet square, I 
think it did not exceed ; a narrow passage within allowed to 
pass in front of the cage. It was very cold ; the air within was 
burthened with the most noisome vapors, and Desolation with 
Misery seemed here to have settled their abode. All was still, 
save now and then a low groan. The person who conducted 
me tried, with a stick, to rouse the inmate ; I in treated her to 
desist ; the twilight of the place making it difficult to discern 
any thing within the cage ; there at last I saw a human being, 
partially extended, cast upon his back amidst a mass of filth, 
the sole furnishing, whether for comfort or necessity which the 
place afforded ; there he lay, ghastly, with upturned, glazed 
eyes, and fixed gaze, heavy breathings, interrupted only by 
faint groans, which seemed symptomatic of an approaching ter- 
mination of his sufferings. Not so, thought the mistress; "he 
has all sorts of ways ; he'll soon rouse up and be noisy enough ; 
he'll scream and beat about the place like any wild beast, half 
the time." u And cannot you make him more comfortable ? 
can he not have some clean, dry place, and a fire ? " " As for 
clean, it will do no good ; he's cleaned out now and then ; but 
what's the use for such a creature? his own brother tried him 
once, but got sick enough of the bargain." " But a fire, there 
is space even here, for a small box stove ? " " If he had a fire 
he'd only pull off his clothes, so it's no use." " But you say 
your husband takes care of him, and he is shut in here in 
almost total darkness, so that seems a less evil than that he 
should lie there to perish in that horrible condition." I made 



22 

no impression ; it was plain that to keep him securely confined 
from escape was the chief object. " How do you give him his 
food? I see no means for introducing any thing here?" 
u O," pointing to the floor, " one of the bars is cut shorter 
there, we push it through there." " There ? impossible ! you 
cannot do that ; you would not treat your lowest dumb animals 
with that disregard to decency ! " " As for what he eats, or 
where he eats, it makes no difference to him, he'd as soon 
swallow one thinsr as another." 

Newton. It was a cold morning in October last, that 1 vis- 
ited the almshouse. The building itself is ill adapted for the 
purposes to which it is appropriated ; the town, I understand 
have in consideration a more advantageous location, and pro- 
pose to erect more commodious dwellings. The mistress of the 
house informed me that they had several insane inmates, some 
of them very bad. In reply to my request to see them, she ob- 
jected " that they were not fit — that they were not cleaned — 
that they were very crazy," &c. Urging my request more de- 
cidedly, she said they should be got ready, if I would wait. 
Still no order was given which would hasten my object. I re- 
newed the subject, when, with manifest unwillingness, she called 
to a colored man, a cripple, who with several others of the poor 
were employed in the yard, to go and get a woman up — nam- 
ing her. I waited some time at the kitchen door to see what 
all this was to produce. The man slowly proceeded to the re- 
mote part of the wood-shed where, part being divided from the 
open space, were two small rooms, in the outer of which he 
slept and lived, as I understood ; there was his furniture ; and 
there his charge ! Opening into this room only, was the second, 
which was occupied by a woman not old, and furiously mad : 
it contained a wooden bunk filled with filthy straw, the room it- 
self a counterpart to the lodging place ; inexpressibly disgusting 
and loathsome was all : but the inmate herself was even more 
horribly repelling ; she rushed out, as far as the chains would 
allow, almost in a state of nudity, exposed to a dozen persons, 
and vociferating at the top of her voice ; pouring forth such a 
flood of indecent language as might corrupt even Newgate. 
I entreated the man, who still was there, to go out and close the 
door. He refused ; that was his place ! Sick, horror-struck, and 
almost incapable of retreating, I gained the outward air, and has- 
tened to see the other subject, to remove from a scene so out- 
raging all decency and humanity. In the apartment over 
that last described was a crazy man, I was told. I ascended 
the stairs in the wood-shed, and passing through a small room 
stood at the entrance of the one occupied ; occupied with what? 
The furniture was a wooden box or bunk containing straw, and 



1 



23 

something I was told was a man, I could not tell, as likely it 
might have been a wild animal, half buried in the offensive 
mass that made his bed ; his countenance concealed by long 
tangled hair and unshorn beard. He lay sleeping. Filth, 
neglect and misery reigned there. I begged he might not be 
roused. If sleep could visit a wretch so forlorn, how mer- 
ciless to break the slumber ! Protruding from the foot of 

the box was , nay, it could not be the feet : yet from 

these stumps, these maimed members were swinging chains, 
fastened to the side of the building. I descended ; the master 
of the house briefly stated the history of these two victims of 
wretchedness. The old man had been crazy above twenty 
years. As, till within a late period, the town had owned no 
farm for the poor, this man with others had been annually put 
up at auction. I hope there is nothing offensive in the idea of 
these annual sales of old men and women, the sick, the 
infirm, and the helpless, the middle-aged and children ; why 
should we not sell people as well as otherwise blot out human 
rights, it is only being consistent, surely not worse than chain- 
ing and caging naked Lunatics upon public roads, or burying 
them in closets and cellars ? But,as I was saying, the crazy man 
was annually sold to some new master, and a few winters since, 
being kept in an out-house, the people w 7 ithin being warmed 
and clothed, 'did not reckon how cold it was,' and so his feet froze. 
Were chains now the more necessary ? he cannot run. But he 
might crawl forth, and in his transports of frenzy "do some 
damage.'' 

That young woman ; her lot is most appalling! who shall 
dare describe it ! who shall have courage or hardness to write 
her history ? That young woman was the child of respectable, 
hard-working parents. The girl became insane ; the father, a 
farmer with small means, from a narrow income had placed her 
at the State Hospital. There, said my informer, she remained 
as long as he could by any means pay her expenses. Then, 
then only, he resigned her to the care of the town, to those who 
are, in the eye of the law, the guardians of the poor and 
needy ; she was placed with the other town-paupers, and given 
in charge to a man. I assert boldly, as truly, that I have given 
but a faint representation of what she was, and what was her 
condition as I saw her last autumn. Written language is weak 
to declare it. 

Could we in fancy place ourselves in the situation of some of 
these poor wretches, bereft of reason, deserted of friends, hope- 
less ; troubles without, and more dreary troubles within, over- 
whelming the wreck of the mind as ' a wide breaking in of the 
waters,' — how should we, as the terrible illusion was cast off, 



24 

not only offer the thank-offering of prayer, that so mighty a 
destruction had not overwhelmed our mental nature, but as an 
offering more acceptable devote ourselves to alleviate that state 
from which we are so mercifully spared. 

It may not appear much more credible than the fact above 
stated, that a few months since, a young woman in a state of 
complete insanity, was confined entirely naked in a pen or stall 
in a barn ; there, unfurnished with clothes, without bed, and 
without fire, she was left — but not alone ; profligate men and 
idle boys had access to the den, whenever curiosity or vulgarity 
prompted. She is now removed into the house with other 
paupers ; and for this humanizing benefit she was indebted to 
the remonstrances, in the first instance, of an insane man! 

Another town now owns a poorhouse, which I visited, and 
am glad to testify to the present comfortable state of the in- 
mates ; but there the only provision the house affords for an in- 
sane person, should one, as is not improbable, be conveyed there, 
is a closet in the cellar, formed by the arch upon which the 
chimney rests ; this has a close door, not only securing the 
prisoner, but excluding what of light and pure air might else 
find admission. 

Abuses assuredly cannot always or altogether be guarded 
against ; but if in the civil and social relations all shall have 
" done what they could," no ampler justification will be de- 
manded at the Great Tribunal. 

Of the dangers and mischiefs sometimes following the loca- 
tion of insane persons in our almhouses, I will record but one 
more example. In Worcester, has for several years resided a 
young woman, a lunatic pauper of decent life and respectable 
family. I have seen her as she usually appeared, listless and 
silent, almost or quite sunk into a state of dementia, sitting one 
amidst the family, ' but not of them.' A few weeks since, 
revisiting that almshouse, judge my horror and amazement to 
see her negligently bearing in her arms a young infant, of 
which I was told she was the unconscious parent ! Who was 
the father, none could or would declare. Disqualified for the 
performance of maternal cares and duties, regarding the helpless 
little creature with a perplexed, or indifferent gaze, she sat a 
silent, but O how eloquent, a pleader for the protection of others 
of her neglected and outraged sex ! Details of that black story 
would not strengthen the cause ; needs it a weightier plea, than 
the sight of that forlorn creature and her wailing infant ? Poor 
little child, more than orphan from birth, in this unfriendly 
world ! a demented Mother — a Father, on whom the sun might 
blush or refuse to shine ! 

Men of Massachusetts, I beg, I implore, I demand, pity 



25 

and protection, for these of my suffering, outraged sex !— 
Fathers, Husbands, Brothers, I would supplicate you for this 
boon — but what do I say 1 I dishonor you, divest you at 
once of Christianity and humanity — does this appeal imply 
distrust. If it comes burthened with a doubt of your right- 
eousness in this Legislation, then blot it out ; while I declare 
confidence in your honor, not less than your humanity. Here 
you will put away the cold, calculating spirit of selfishness and 
self-seeking ; lay off the armor of local strife and political oppo- 
sition ; here and now, for once, forgetful of the earthly and 
perishable, come up to these halls and consecrate them with one 
heart and one mind to works of righteousness and just judg- 
ment. Become the benefactors of your race, the just guardians 
of the solemn rights you hold in trust. Raise up the fallen ; 
succor the desolate ; restore the outcast ; defend the helpless } 
and for your eternal and great reward, receive the benediction...* 
" Well done, good and faithful servants, become rulers over 
many things ! " 

But, gentlemen, I do not come to quicken your sensibilities 
into short-lived action, to pour forth passionate exclamation, nor 
yet to move your indignation against those, whose misfortune, 
not fault, it surely is to hold in charge these poor demented 
creatures, and whose whole of domestic economy, or prison 
discipline, is absolutely overthrown by such proximity of con- 
flicting circumstances, and opposite conditions of mind and 
character. Allow me to illustrate this position by a few ex- 
amples ; it were easy to produce hundreds. 

The master of one of the best regulated almshouses, viz. 
that of Plymouth, where every arrangement shows that the 
comfort of the sick, the aged, and the infirm, is suitably cared 
for, and the amendment of the unworthy is studied and ad- 
vanced, said, as we stood opposite a latticed stall, where was 
confined a madman, that the hours of the day were few, when 
the whole household was not distracted from employment by 
screams, and turbulent stampings, and every form of violence, 
which the voice or muscular force could produce. This unfor- 
tunate being was one of the "returned incurables," since whose 
last admission to the almshouse, they were no longer secure of 
peace for the aged, or decency for the young ; it was morally 
impossible to do justice to the sane and insane in such improper 
vicinity to each other. The conviction is continually deepened 
that Hospitals are the only places where insane persons can be 
at once humanely and properly controlled. Poorhouses, con- 
verted into madhouses, cease to effect the purposes for which 
they were established, and instead of being asylums for the 
aged, the homeless, and the friendless, and places of refuge for 



26 

orphaned or neglected childhood, are transformed into perpetual 
bedlams. 

This crying evil and abuse of institutions, is not confined to 
our almshouses. The warden of a populous prison near this 
metropolis, populous, not with criminals only, but with the in- 
sane in almost every stage of insanity, and the idiotic in de- 
scending states from silly and simple, to helpless and speechless, 
has declared that, since their admission under the Rev. Stat, of 
1835, page 382, " the prison has often more resembled the 
infernal regions than any place on earth ! " and, what with the 
excitement inevitably produced by the crowded state of the 
prisons, and multiplying causes, not subject to much modifica- 
tion, there has been neither peace nor order one hour of the 
twenty-four ; if ten were quiet, the residue were probably rav- 
ing. Almost without interval might, and must, these be heard, 
blaspheming and furious, and to the last degree impure and 
indecent; uttering language, from which the base and the 
profligate have turned shuddering aside, and the abandoned 
have shrunk abashed. 1 myself, with many beside, can bear 
sad witness to these things. 

Such cases of transcendent madness have not been few in 
this prison. Admission for a portion of them, not already 
having been discharged as incurable from the State Hospital, 
has been sought with importunity, and pressed with obstinate 
perseverance, often without success or advantage ; and it has 
not been, till application has followed application, and petition 
succeeded petition, that the Judge of Probate, absolutely weari- 
ed by the 'continual coming,' has sometimes granted warrants 
for removal. It cannot be overlooked that in this delay or re- 
fusal was more of just deliberation than hardness, for it is well 
known that, in the present crowded state of the Hospital, every 
new patient displaces one who has for a longer or shorter time 
received the benefit of that noble institution. 

A few months since, through exceeding effort, an inmate of 
this prison, whose contaminating influence for two years had 
been the dread and curse of all persons who came within her 
sphere, whether incidentally, or compelled by imprisonment, 
orby dai ly duty, was removed to Worcester. She had set at 
defiance ail efforts for controlling the contaminating violence of 
her excited passions ; every variety of blasphemous expression ; 
eveiy form of polluting phraseology, was poured forth in tor- 
rents, sweeping away every decent thought, and giving reality 
to that blackness of darkness, which it is said might convert a 
heaven into a hell ; there, day after day, month after month, 
were the warden and his own immediate household ; the subor- 
dinate officials, and casual visitors ; young women detained as 



27 

witnesses ; men, women, and children, waiting trial or under 
sentence; debtors and criminals; the neighborhood, and al- 
most the whole town ; subjected to this monstrous offence — and 
no help ! the law permitted her there, and there she remained 
till July last, when, after an application to the Judge, so de- 
termined, that all refusal was refused, a warrant was granted 
for her transfer to the State Hospital. I saw her there two 
weeks since ; what a change ! decent, orderly, neatly dressed ; 
capable of light employment ; partaking with others her daily 
meals. Decorously, and without any manifestation of passion, 
moving about, not a rational woman by any means, but no 
longer a nuisance, rending off her garments and tainting the 
moral atmosphere with every pollution ; she exhibited how 
much could be done for the most unsettled and apparently the 
most hopeless cases, by being placed in a situation adapted to 
the wants and necessities of her condition. Transformed from 
a very Tisiphone, she is now a controllable woman. But this 
most wonderful change may not be lasting ; she is liable to 
be returned to the prison, as have been others, and then, no 
question, but in a short time like scenes will distract and torment 
all in a vicinity so much to be dreaded. 

Already has been transferred from Worcester to Concord a 
furious man, last July conveyed to the Hospital from Cam- 
bridge, whose violence is second only to that of the subject 
above described. While our Revised Statutes permit the in- 
carceration of madmen and madwomen, epilectics and idiots in 
prisons, all responsible officers should, in ordinary justice, be ex- 
onerated from obligation to maintain prison discipline. And 
the fact is conclusive, if the injustice to prison officers is great, 
it is equally great towards prisoners ; an additional penalty to 
a legal sentence pronounced in a Court of Justice, which might, 
we should think, in all the prisons we have visited, serve as a 
sound plea for false imprisonment. If reform is intended to be 
united with punishment, there never was a greater absurdity 
than to look for moral restoration under such circumstances ; 
and if that is left out of view, we know no rendering of the law 
which sanctions such a cruel and oppressive aggravation of the 
circumstances of imprisonment, as to expose these prisoners day 
and night to the indescribable horrors of such association. 

The greatest evils, in regard to the insane and idiots in the 
prisons of this Commonwealth, are found at Ipswich and Cam- 
bridge, and distinguish these places only, as I believe, because 
the numbers are larger, being more than twenty in each. Ips- 
wich has the advantage over Cambridge in having fewer furious 
subjects, and in the construction of the buildings, though these 
are so bad as to have afforded cause for presentment by the 



28 

Grand Jury some time since. It is said that the new County 
House,in progress of building,will meet the exigencies of the case. 
If it is meant that the wing in the new prison, to be appropri- 
ated to the insane, will provide accommodation for all the insane 
and idiotic paupers in the county, 1 can only say that it could 
receive no more than can be gathered in the three towns of 
Salem, Newbury port, and Ipswich, supposing these are to be 
removed ; there beinc? in Ipswich twenty-two in the prison, 
and eight in the almshouse ; in Salem almshouse, seventeen 
uniformly crazy, and two part of the time deranged ; and in 
that of Newburyport eleven, including idiots. Here at once are 
sixty. The returns of 1842 exhibit an aggregate of one hun- 
dred thirty-five. Provision is made in the new prison for fifty- 
seven of this class, leaving seventy-eight unprovided for, except 
in the almshouses. From such a fate, so far as Dan vers, Sau- 
gus, East Bradford, and some other towns in the county, reveal 
conditions of insane subjects, we pray they may be exempt. 

I have the verbal and written testimony of many officers of 
this Commonwealth, who are respectable alike for their integrity 
and the fidelity with which they discharge their official duties, 
and whose opinions, based on experience, are entitled to con- 
sideration, that the occupation of prisons for the detention of 
lunatics and of idiots is, under all circumstances, an evil, sub- 
versive alike of good order, strict discipline, and good morals. I 
transcribe a few passages which will place this mischief in its 
true light. The Sheriff of Plymouth county writes as 
follows : — " I am decidedly of the opinion that the county jail 
is a very improper place for lunatics and idiots. The last sum- 
mer its bad effects were fully realized here, not only by the 
prisoners in jail, but the disturbance extended to the inhabitants 
dwelling in the neighborhood. A foreigner w T as sentenced by 
a Justice of the Peace, to thirty days' confinement in the house 
of correction. He was to all appearance a lunatic, or madman. 
He destroyed every article in his room, even to his wearing 
apparel, his noise and disturbance was incessant for hours, day 
and night. I consider prisons places for the safe keeping of 
prisoners, and all these are equally entitled to humane treat- 
ment from their keepers, without regard to the cause of com- 
mitment. We have in jails no conveniences to make the situ- 
ation of lunatics and idiots much more decent than would be 
necessary for the brute creation, and impossible to prevent the 
disturbance of the inmates under the same roof." 

In relation to the confinement of the insane in prisons the 
Sheriff of Hampshire county writes as follows : — 

" I concur fully in the sentiments entertained by you in rela- 
tion to this unwise,not to say inhuman, provision of our law (see 



29 

Rev. Stat. 382) authorizing the commitment of lunatics to our 
Jails and Houses of Correction. Our Jails preclude occupation, 
and our Houses of Correction cannot admit of that variety of 
pursuit, and its requisite supervision, so indispensable to these un- 
fortunates. 

" Indeed this feature of our law seems to me a relic of that an- 
cient barbarism which regarded misfortune as a crime, and those 
bereft of reason as also bereft of all sensibility ; as having for- 
feited not only all title to compassion but to humanity, and con- 
signed them without a tear of sympathy, or twinge of remorse, 
or even a suspicion of injustice to the companionship of the vi- 
cious, the custody of the coarse and ignorant, and the horrors of 
the hopelsss dungeon. I cannot persuade myself that any thing 
more than a motion by any member of our Legislature is nec- 
essary to effect an immediate repeal of this odious provision." 

The Sheriff of Berkshire says, conclusively, that "Jails and 
Houses of Correction cannot be so managed as to render them 
suitable places of confinement for that unfortunate class of per- 
sons, who are the subjects of your inquiries, and who, never 
having violated the law, should not be ranked with felons, or 
confined within the same walls with them. Jailors and Over- 
seers of Houses of Correction, whenever well qualified for the 
management of criminals, do not usually possess those peculiar 
qualifications required in those to whom should be entrusted the 
care of lunatics." 

A letter from the surgeon and physician of the Prison Hospit- 
al at Cambridge, whose observation and experience has laid the 
foundation of his opinions, and hence has a title to speak with 
authority, affords the following views. "On this subject it seems 
to me, there can be but one opinion. No one can be more im- 
pressed than I am with the great injustice done to the insane by 
confining them in Jails and Houses of Correction. It must be 
revolting to the better feelings of every one to see the innocent 
and unfortunate insane occupying apartments with, or consigned 
to those occupied by the criminal. Some of the insane are con- 
scious of the circumstances in which they are placed, and feel 
the degradation. They exclaim sometimes in their ravings, and 
sometimes in their lucid intervals, " What have / done that I 
must be shut up in Jail ?" and "why do you not let me out?" 
This state of things unquestionably retards the recovery of the 
few who do recover their reason under such circumstances, and 
may render those permanently insane, who, under other circum- 
stances might have been restored to their right mind. There is 
also in our Jails very little opportunity for the classification of the 
insane. The quiet and orderly must in many cases occupy the 



30 

same rooms with the restless and noisy, another great hindrance 
to recovery. 

" Injustice is also done to the convicts ; it is certainly very 
wrong that they should be doomed day after day, and night af- 
ter night, to listen to the ravings of madmen and madwomen. 
This is a kind of punishment, that is not recognised by our stat- 
utes ; and is what the criminal ought not to be called upon to un- 
dergo. The confinement of the criminal and of the insane in 
the same building is subversive of that good order and discipline 
which should be observed in every well-regulated prison. I do 
most sincerely hope that more permanent provision will be made 
for the Pauper Insane by the State, either to restore Worcester 
Insane Asylum to what it was originally designed to be, or else 
make some just appropriation for the benefit of this very unfor- 
tunate class of our ' fellow beings'." 

From the efficient Sheriff of Middlesex county, I have 
a letter upon this subject, from which [ make such extracts as 
my limits permit : — " 1 do not consider it right, just, or humane, 
to hold for safe keeping, in the county jails and houses of correc- 
tion, persons classing as lunatics or idiots. Our prisons are not 
constructed with a view to the proper accommodation of this 
class of persons ; their interior arrangements are such as to 
render it very difficult, if not impossible, to extend to such per- 
sons that care and constant oversight which their peculiarly 
unfortunate condition absolutely demands ; and besides, the 
occupation of prisons for lunatics is unquestionably subversive of 
discipline, comfort, and good order. Prisoners are thereby sub- 
jected to unjust aggravation of necessary confinement, by being 
exposed to an almost constant disquiet from the restless or rav- 
ing lunatic. You inquire whether " it may not justly be said, 
that the qualifications for wardenship, or for the offices of over- 
seer, do not usually embrace qualifications for the management 
of lunatics, whether regarded as curable or incurably lost to 
reason V and also,whether "the government of jails and houses 
of correction for the detention or punishment of offenders and 
criminals, can suitably be united with the government and dis- 
cipline fitted for the most unfortunate and friendless of the 
human race, viz : pauper lunatics and idiots, a class not con- 
demned by the laws, and I must add not mercifully protected 
by them ?" The first of the preceding questions I answer in 
the affirmative ; the last negatively." 

A communication from the warden of the Cambridge prison 
affords the following opinions, results of his experience : — " As 
to the expediency or propriety of holding for safe keeping, in 
the jails or houses of correction, insane persons or idiots, I must 
say that I consider it both inexpedient and decidedly wrong 



31 

that the insane, or idiots, or any other persons, should be con- 
fined in prisons, except those who have been convicted for 
crimes, or who are so strongly suspected that it is necessary 
they should be holden for safe keeping until they can be tried 
for the offences for which they stand charged. Any person 
having the least experience in prison-keeping, must, I think, be 
fully sensible of the demoralizing and pernicious influences 
insane persons must have on the order and discipline of a 
prison, nor can it be doubted that the punishment of all sane 
persons is very much enhanced and aggravated by their ex- 
posure to the ravings of the insane. Neither can the keepers 
or other officers of prisons be selected with a view to their fit- 
ness to take care of the insane, consequently they are in want 
of those qualifications which make them suitable for the man- 
agement of such persons, be they curable or incurable." 

From the Sheriff of Dukes county I have testimony, 
corresponding to that elsewhere received, and from which I am 
obliged to make extracts, when the entire letters would be valu- 
able : — " I beg leave to say that I am decidedly of opinion that 
such confinement, even if it were in some cases " expedient," 
is not in accordance with the principles of sound enlightened 
philanthropy. Humanity shudders at the thought that those 
whom God in his providence has bereft of the light of reason, 
should be confined within the narrow bounds of a prison, de- 
prived of the enjoyment of the pure air of heaven ; of necessary 
exercise ; of the comforts to which they have been used, com- 
forts which their peculiar circumstances render so necessary ; 
and made companions of felons, and the worthless outcasts of 
society. 

u With proper care and attention, lunatics may not only be 
made comfortable, but in many instances restored again to 
society with sound minds. But this care and attention cannot 
be expected from those who have charge of prisons, worthy 
men though many of them be ; it requires a union of qualifica- 
tions rarely found in one individual, to manage successfully 
those from whom, that which chiefly distinguishes man from 
the brute creation, is taken away. 

" I conclude w T ith expressing the hope that the wisdom of our 
Legislature may devise a remedy for the evils now attending 
the unfortunate pauper lunatic and idiot." 

The warden of one of the best conducted prisons in this or 
any other country, I refer to that at South Boston, writes: — "I 
affirm, most decisively, that jails and houses of correction are 
not fit places for the safe keeping of lunatics and idiots, and, as 
far as my experience goes, the officers are not qualified to take 
charge of lunatics." 



32 

The master of the Plymouth almshouse writes, in a letter 
containing many clear views, — " I hope to hear people are 
awake on this subject, and trust they will not rest till they have 
compelled the public to provide suitable places for that unfortu- 
nate class of demented persons. They should never be received 
in almshouses." 

It is not few but many, it is not a part but the whole, who 
bear unqualified testimony to this evil. A voice strong and 
deep comes up from every almshouse and prison in Massachu- 
setts where the insane are or have been, protesting against such 
evils as have been illustrated in the preceding pages. 

Gentlemen, I commit to you this sacred cause. Your action 
upon this subject will affect the present and future condition of 
hundreds and of thousands. 

In this legislation, as in all things, may you exercise that 
" wisdom which is the breath of the power of God." 

Respectfully submitted, 

D. L. DDL 

85 Mt.Vernon St. Boston. 
January, 1843. 



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